The Haleys lost their son while he was out playing. It was so tragic and unexpected that the couple was full of anger and pain. But God led them to forgive the man who killed their 5-year-old son.
The Accident
When Jack and Rene Haley’s oldest son, Austin, woke up on August 3, 2007, he was in a very serious mood. Austin, 5, and his younger brother Dalton, 2, went fishing at the pond behind Rene’s house later that same night with their dad. Austin bid goodbye to his parents, and they left.
“That morning he said, ‘Mama this is going to be a very bad day. Mama I’m going to miss you, Daddy, and Dalton so much.’ And he wept. I thought that maybe he had had a nightmare of some sort,” Rene recalled.
Later that day, Rene’s dad told her terrible news: Someone shot Austin in the head.
The Man Who Killed Couple’s 5-Year-Old Son
“What I’m feeling at that moment is just sheer anguish and anger,” Jack said. Rene recalled, “I had no idea how to even take that information. My mind could not comprehend it. Who shot my son!?”
When Austin arrived at the hospital, he was already declared dead. They also found out who had killed their son at that time. A neighbor called the police to report a snake in a birdhouse, and a new cop and his partner went to the scene. Two shots were fired at the snake by the rookie, and one of them hit Austin in the head.
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Rene couldn’t help but ask, “‘God, why did it have to happen to us? Why us? Why? Why didn’t you stop the bullet? Why didn’t you put a stop to what happened? I just didn’t understand.’”
Forgiving The Man Who Killed Their 5-Year-Old Son
After eight months, the Haleys went to court to hear the decision against the police officers charged with second-degree manslaughter. The judge said that both officers would have to take a class on how to handle snakes and have their certifications taken away. This was on top of the 90 days of community service they had already done. Still, this was very, extremely difficult for the parents who had lost their child.
At the back entrance of the building after the hearing, Jack and Renee ran into the person who killed their son. He suddenly fell to his knees and said, “Please forgive me, I did not mean to shoot your son.”
Restored
“His tears were streaming. What do we do at that moment? He shot and killed our son. And we have to make a decision right then,” Rene recalled. “I call out, ‘Oh God, please help me make this decision. What do we do?’ Immediately, I got this vision, a definite vision of Jesus hanging on the cross. There were tears draining from His cheeks like there were tears draining from mine. He said, ‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.’ And I knew just without a doubt in my mind I had to forgive.”
That was more than 15 years ago, on July 15, 2007. Since then, the Haleys have had two more children, Gabriel Jeremiah and Michaela Ruth, in addition to Dalton. They still miss their son very much. They all keep forgiving each other through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Reference: The 700 Club
Header image: 5-year-old Austin [The 700 Club]. YouTube, 10 March 2024, https://youtu.be/53KpbXP0SdI